Sentimentality
by you-make-me-wander
Summary: The Martins move to Beacon Hills to start a new life after tragedy hit them. Determined to start senior year focusing on nothing but her grades, Lydia soon learns that things might not go as planned when, in her first day in high school, she literally bumps into her soulmate, making everything in her life come into perspective in ways she never imagined. Soulmate AU
1. Chapter 1

**So this is the first fic for my "Destined flames" series, which will only have Soulmate AUs! This one is entirely AU. There are no supernatural elements involved, some characters that are no longer in the show will come into play and, of course, it's a slow burn. I mixed three soulmate prompts because it's much more interesting that way, so this fic is based on the following prompt: "Soulmate AU where you have words said by your soulmate printed on you wrist, but they can either be the words your soulmate says the minute they realize they love you, the first words they ever say to you or their last, and you won't know until they say them."**

**Chapter 1**

She moves to town with her family in the beginning of senior year to have a fresh start, or at least it's what Stiles has been hearing from everyone since then. It's two weeks into the school year when she marches those hallways for the first time, turning heads as she walks by. All around her, there are nothing but whispers and sneaky glances that she doesn't meet. Lydia Martin is a vision, she knows that. Everyone knows that, really, but her days of pretending to be popular are gone now. Have been gone since…

_No! You will not cry, Lydia!_ She fastens her pace, almost runs until she finds the nearest bathroom and locks herself in one of the stalls. Putting down the lid of the toilet and sitting down, tears start staining Lydia's cheeks and the girl covers her mouth with both her hands to try and contain her sobs. _Not in front of them_. She allows herself to cry silently for a few minutes; at least if things go as usual she'll only cry again at night instead of throughout the day. When she calms down and feels like she can breathe again, she leaves the stall and washes her face as if the water will take away her pain. It never does.

Lydia looks at herself in the mirror. Two years ago, she'd find her hair immaculately curled, her makeup perfectly painting her face and her outfit on point, certainly a dress or a skirt too short for her parents' liking. Right now she thinks she has never looked more like herself, her true self at least. Her long strawberry blonde hair is pulled back in a ponytail, more naturally straight than curly today, and there's no makeup at all, just the blush from her crying giving some color to her cheeks. As for her clothes, she's wearing a long white shirt with laced flowers, short sleeved, along and viridian leggings. And heels aren't a part of her wardrobe anymore, so today she's wearing a pair of beige sandals. Even if she couldn't be any more different from the Lydia Martin she was before, she's still beautiful. And most importantly, she feels comfortable. That's something she couldn't have said two years ago.

The only thing in her outfit she finds could be relatable to her old self might be her necklace, one that she wears under her clothes at home not to hurt anyone anymore. She looks down at it, the light coming from one of the restroom windows glistening on the silver ring she has on the thin silver chain around her neck. Playing with it with her fingers, she closes her eyes for a second. _If only you were here_… She's startled by the bell, loud and annoying calling all students to their classes. Taking a deep breath and recomposing, she walks out into the hallway only to nearly be knocked out when someone comes running and she can't step away in time…

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Stiles, who had gotten distracted talking to his best friend and only realized he was in the wrong side of the building when the bell rang, decided that running to get to his classroom would be a good idea. Obviously not, since he's Stiles and his flailing limbs have never really made him that much of a coordinated person. More so, actually, that he just bumped into a girl making her purse fall to the floor, and if it wasn't for his quick reflexes, and thankfully he's got those – sometimes, that is -, the girl could have fallen too. He grabs her arms to steady her even before looking at her properly, cursing himself internally because he always does this. He always has to do something stupid or he wouldn't be him and his day wouldn't have started yet.

"Oh, sorry!" he apologizes, finally looking at the girl. Silence follows for a few seconds and it's hard to tell which of them is more awestruck. Stiles could swear his heart faltered at the sight of her. Beautiful hair, beautiful eyes, beautiful everything really. She's short, barely reaching his shoulders and he's not sure what it is in the way she's looking back at him but it's leaving him breathless. And then, paying closer attention, he notices that her eyes are a little puffed and the only think he can think of is that maybe she had been crying. Or perhaps she hadn't slept properly and that could be why her eyes seem a little swollen. He can't really tell why but it bothers him. "Hey, are you okay?"

Lydia inhales sharply, her mind filling with thoughts and completely blank at the same time. _No, it can't be_. She looks at him from head to toe, attentive. He's much taller than her, a little built even if his t-shirt is one size too big to be too noticeable. His hair is spiked and pointing in various directions and there are moles on his cheeks and neck. His eyes, though, his eyes are what caught her attention. She doesn't know what's so special about them, but looking at the boy is making her heart beat a little faster. She realizes, after another few seconds of awkward silence, that she hasn't answered him. "Yeah, I'm fine."

He gets down and grabs her purse for her, returning it to the girl and scratching the back of his neck, blushing involuntarily. "I'm really sorry. I didn't see you there."

If he hadn't given Lydia her purse, she's not sure she could have picked it up herself. She's pretty much frozen in place. "I uh-" For a second she forgets how she's supposed to say words, make them vocal. She shakes her head swiftly, rearranging her thoughts. "It's okay. I'm okay."

He raises an eyebrow, unconvinced. If the girl was crying, she probably didn't need another reason to feel sad, whatever the reason for her crying was. "Are you sure?"

She purses her lips in a thin smile. "Yeah, I'm sure. I should go…" She motions to a group of students entering one of the classrooms, the one she's supposed to go to right now.

"Oh right," he remembers. _You were running for a reason, dumbass_. "I should go too…"

Lydia nods and purses her lips in a small smile again before starting to walk away from the boy, who she assumes has already started running again by the loud thuds she can hear from behind her. Entering the classroom and sitting on one of the desks, Lydia takes a deep breath before glancing at her right wrist, not sure of what she's going to find.

You're sixteen when you get them, your soulmate's words, unless you are to meet them before that age. They appear in thin lines, like they were scribbled with a pencil, and only when your soulmate says them they turn into a tattoo, printed on your skin for eternity. It's not as easy as it seems though, finding your soulmate, because the words written down on your wrist can either be the words your soulmate says the minute they realize they love you, the first words they ever say to you or their last, and you won't know until they say them. And even before looking down at her arm, Lydia knows. She knows who he is and what it means because the boy said the words, words she has known by heart ever since she turned sixteen over a year ago, and sure enough she's marked, the words _"Oh, sorry! Hey, are you okay?"_ tattooed in a beautiful black cursive font looking back at her, and all she can think is _No, no, no, no_.

**Please let me know what you think. Feedback is much appreciated :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**I put it up to a vote and it turns out I'm updating both "Sentimentality" and "As fate would have it" right now. I already had the chapters ready to post and some of you guys have been asking me about them, so here they are. I posted a new fic a few days ago too, "Wise words". If you haven't already, please check it out. I need feedback on that one.**

**I also just submitted a one-shot for stydia-fanfiction on tumblr as well, a 5k one-shot full of fluff that I can't wait for you guys to read ^^**

**Chapter 2**

Lydia forgets that with being the new student she's supposed to be introduced to her new classes, so she's immersed in watching her new tattoo when someone taps her shoulder lightly, bringing her out of her reverie. Glancing up, she finds who she assumes to be her teacher calling for her.

"Ms. Martin?"

She nods stupidly; she should be paying attention. Grabbing her purse and getting up, Lydia makes her way to the front of the class, realizing that she even took someone else's seat while she had been distracted, the seat of a tall, blonde girl who's looking at Lydia like she committed a felony. Of course all of her classmates would have their own seats; she's the new student, not them. _Focus, Lydia_. She smiles to the class and it's a forced smile, she realizes. Not like the smiles she gave the boy just two minutes ago, come to think of it, even if they were small and brief.

She endures the awkward introduction while praying that things won't feel this foreign for the rest of the day, and nods absently at whatever the teacher, Ms. Norris, is asking her. Directing a polite smile to the older woman, Lydia makes her way through the room looking for another place to sit. Walking by the blonde, she almost flinches at the way the girl is looking at her; her eyes are like daggers.

Two years ago, Lydia would have made that girl stand up and step away from the seat if Lydia would have been to decide that that was the best seat for herself. Not today, though. Today, she sits on the last desk available in one of the corners in the back of the classroom, and she can't help but to feel trapped, insecure, even breathless.

When the teacher starts writing on the chalkboard – after what, to Lydia, felt like an hour -, the students slowly drift their attention from the redhead to the lesson that's about to start, but not all students. Everyone turns but the blonde - who takes a moment longer to glare at Lydia like she's about to rip her head off - and a brunette sitting at Lydia's left.

When the blonde eventually turns around on her seat, Lydia glances at the brunette who's still eyeing her with amused - almost curious - features. A small smile appears on the girl's lips. "You just got your tattoo, didn't you?" she whispers to Lydia.

Two years ago, Lydia would have given the girl an icy stare, making her regret ever glaring at Lydia like that, let alone talk to her without being spoken to first. But this is not two years ago, and it'll never be again. _You need to let go, Lydia_, she thinks to herself, swallowing dryly at the girl's question, blushing without her own consent. "H- How did you know?" she murmurs, taken by surprise.

The girl smiles bright. She waits a few minutes to answer Lydia in a hushed tone, waits until Ms. Norris – who, in the meantime, had started talking to the class - turns around to face the board again. "You came into the classroom looking like you just saw a ghost and kept looking at your wrist like you couldn't believe what you were seeing, like something that wasn't there before was now. Figured it had to be it. Aside from me, I don't think I've ever met someone who just got theirs," she exclaims excitedly.

Lydia blushes further, glancing at her wrist again just to make sure the words are still engraved there. "So, you already have your tattoo, then?"

"Better," the girl grins, showing Lydia her left wrist discreetly not to catch the teacher's attention.

Lydia gasps lowly. On the brunette's wrists can be easily seen two sets of words instead of the standard one - which is a rare occurrence in this world, even if the rules seem to be changing with the younger generations -, both marked permanently. "You have two?"

The girl nods, smiling bright. "Yup. So did you just meet your soulmate, like here, in Beacon Hills High School?" Lydia nods, not sure of what she's supposed to answer. "Wow. What a coincidence, uh? Right on your first day here, who would say?"

Lydia purses her lips in a thin line and shrugs. The blonde girl looks over her shoulder and whispers something to a classmate, who giggles and stares at Lydia briefly. Lydia averts her eyes. The girl beside Lydia notices the exchange and reassures her, smiling. "Don't mind Erica. She's a bitch who's got nothing better to do than to gossip. She'll forget about you in a minute, I promise."

They don't talk much for the rest of the class because Ms. Norris gives them a stern look when Lydia is about to answer the brunette and they end up quieting. Their silence is only broken when Lydia looks at the girl and murmurs as lowly as she can, another easy smile escaping her lips for the second time that day, which strikes the redhead as more unfamiliar than having to be introduced to her classmates; it's not a position she finds herself in very often. "I'm Lydia."

The brunette beams, the warmth of her eyes and smile making Lydia feel comforted in a way she can't really explain. "Allison. It's nice to meet you."

**Author's note: ****Please review or leave me a message! I'm you-make-me-wander on tumblr**


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